In the middle of the journey of my life, I am--as always--a woman on a bike. Although I do not know where this road will lead, the way is not lost, for I have arrived here. And I am on my bicycle, again.

I am Justine Valinotti.

Mid-Life Cycling

30 July 2011

Letting Sleeping Dogs And German Bikes Lie By The Sea

What's that about letting sleeping dogs lie?

They are under...a broomstick, a couple of trees and a clear blue sky. Seriously, they are under the care of a couple of park rangers at the old Fort TIlden site, which is part of the Gateway National Recreation Area.

Lakythia and I rode there, among other places, along the ocean. I can tell already that she's a real friend: At Rockaway Beach, she saw me in a bathing suit and didn't flinch. As this is a family publication (ha, ha), I won't post a photo of that, or of me when I was soaking wet. However, I will post a photo of her. She's absolutely radiant, just having returned from two weeks of voyaging along the Italian coast.

At Rockaway Beach, we feasted on the round loaf of whole wheat bread I bought in Parisi's Bakery, a mozzerella and tomato salad I brought and a tortellini salad she brought. Now, just because my last name is Valinotti, I don't want you to read any bias into what I'm going to say next: You really can measure the level of civilization of any nation by the amount of olive oil and garlic it uses in its national cuisine. ;-)

All right, there are other things that determine how civilized a society is, such as the transport bikes (or lack thereof). This one, as best I can tell, is either German or Dutch. The few inscriptions on it were in what looked like German. I tried to photograph them, but none of the inscriptions are legible in the photos.

However, I thought the headlight was attached in an interesting place, in an interesting way:

I don't think this bike had a hub generator. Rather, it seems to have had a bottle-type generator mounted to the front fork. There was a brazed-on tab for one, and it looked as if the generator had been mounted at some point. Was it stolen? Or was it removed for a repair?

I was curious to know more about the bike. But sometimes I guess it is better to let sleeping dogs lie.